Muslim girls of Udupi’s Government Pre-University College for Girls, who have been protesting against hijab ban in the campus, alleged that their addresses and mobile numbers were leaked from the college.
17-year-old Aliya Assadi, one of the icons of Muslim girls’ recent agitation in Karnataka said her personal details – including phone numbers, parents’ names, and home address – were shared on Whatsapp groups buzzing in Udupi.
“I am not comfortable showing my face anymore. Already everyone knows how I look and where my home is. What if someone targets me?” The Quint quotes Aliya as asking.
The news website reported that Aliya was wearing a burqa, unlike the many times she had addressed the media in hijab.
“Even my parents are receiving calls from unknown numbers. I have asked them not to attend calls,” Hazra Shifa, another student said.
The six students are now demanding the college management to explain how confidential details reached the public.
The chairman of the College’s Development Committee (CDC) is Udupi’s BJP MLA Raghupathi Bhat and he has been maintaining his Islamophobic stand since December 2021 that Muslim students in hijab are not allowed inside classrooms.
“He made our fight for hijab communal in nature, by supporting the saffron scarf protests. He instigated the students to wear saffron shawls. And now he has made, not just the college, but also our homes unsafe,” Aliya said to The Quint.
After the Hindutva protests against hijab wearing Muslim students in Karnataka took a violent turn, calm prevailed on Wednesday in the educational situations ordered to be closed down and a full bench of the High Court will hear the pleas challenging the ban on the hijab while protests in support of Muslim students broke out in some more states.
Meanwhile, Supreme Court declines to urgently list a plea seeking transfer of the petitions from Karnataka High Court relating to Hijab row to the apex court.
The top court said that the HC is hearing the matter today and asked, “why should we interfere at this stage”. It also refused to give any specific date.
